For ecommerce merchants, the math is simple: shipping costs directly impact margins. For supply chain leaders, it’s equally clear: limited fulfillment networks force impossible choices. Both understand the challenge of shipping to remote US regions, where limited options and high costs hit harder than anywhere else.
Enter ShipMonk Economy Extended Coverage.
The Challenge Most 3PLs Won’t Solve
When you ship to Zone 9 and outlying islands (remote areas across Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and other US territories), most 3PL providers give you the same answer: use air freight. It’s convenient for them. It’s expensive for you.
Others simply don’t offer the service at all. They’ve decided these markets aren’t worth the operational complexity, leaving merchants with limited options and mounting costs.
USPS has been the default option for reaching remote areas cost-efficiently. But it comes with tradeoffs: unpredictable transit times, limited frequency, and costs that can strain margins. For merchants capturing growth in these regions, USPS alone isn’t enough.
“Most 3PLs won’t build for these routes because it requires strategic carrier relationships, network hubs, and operational complexity they’re not willing to take on. We built this because our merchants needed it, and because we have the VCN infrastructure in place to do it efficiently.” — Bethami Jones, Sr. Manager, Parcel Operations
Why This Matters to You
If you’re shipping to outlying US regions, whether occasionally or regularly, the economics are different. Shipping to Alaska or Hawaii costs more than shipping to California. The customer experience is slower. Your margins are tighter. For merchants targeting growth in these regions, that compounds fast.
Ecommerce founders see it in reduced margins. Supply chain leaders see it in higher fulfillment costs and operational complexity. Both see customers in remote areas paying more, taking longer to receive orders, or being turned away entirely.
How It Works
ShipMonk Economy Extended Coverage is built on the same VCN service level your team already uses for continental orders. The difference: instead of surface transit, outlying parcels move by air to a hub near the destination, then hand off to local carriers for final delivery. It’s faster, more predictable, and built into the same service you’re already shipping with.
This applies to every US address: Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern Marianas, and APO/FPO/DPO addresses all ship through the same ShipMonk Economy framework.
The Numbers
The impact speaks for itself:
- Delivery windows cut roughly in half. Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico drop from 6.9 days to 2.8 days. Territories go from 10.3 to 4.4 days. APO/FPO/DPO addresses drop from 9.4 to 5.4 days.
- The experience gap closes. Today, only about half of AK/HI/PR orders arrive within five days (51.7%). With Extended Coverage, that jumps to nearly all of them (95.8%). Your Honolulu customers get the same experience as your Brooklyn ones.
- Better pricing, not a premium. Faster transit comes with a discount off what you pay today, plus per-order savings. You’re not buying speed at a markup.
- Lower operational friction. Fewer “where is my order?” tickets. Less refund and reship exposure. One service level instead of juggling multiple carriers and rate cards.
Why This Unlocks Growth
The real shift: AK, HI, PR, and APO/FPO/DPO stop being markets to quietly absorb. With predictable, fast delivery and better pricing, they become markets you actively market to. That changes everything for merchants capturing growth across the US.
“Extended Coverage isn’t just faster air transit. It’s a fundamental shift in how we route and deliver to these markets. By moving volume off surface carriers and through our own network hubs, we’ve cut transit windows in half while actually improving unit economics. That’s the VCN advantage.” — Bethami Jones, Sr. Manager, Parcel Operations
What Our Merchants Are Seeing
Unicity, experienced the impact firsthand. Their growth in Hawaii and other remote markets accelerated once they had a shipping partner that could actually service those regions effectively.
“Expanded US coverage has been an instrumental change in our business,” they shared. “Our median transit time to Hawaii dropped from 16.1 days via USPS to 5.9 days. Additionally, 75% of our shipments were delivered in 7 days or less compared to the previous 3.5% via USPS alone. By getting our products to the end consumer quicker, we have been able to maintain and capture new growth across Hawaii and other locations that were previously a pain point.” — Cody Williams, Sr. Director of North American Operations
What made the difference wasn’t just the network, but having a partner who understood their business. As Cody Williams, Sr. Director of North American Operations, noted: “Having your account manager understand your needs and the volume shift is instrumental in the success of the program.” That’s the ShipMonk difference. We don’t just connect you to a network. We connect you to people who invest in your growth.
The Bottom Line
Shipping to every US address shouldn’t mean choosing between affordability and reliability. It shouldn’t require juggling multiple carriers or accepting higher costs as inevitable.
With ShipMonk Economy Extended Coverage, you get both. Lower costs. Simpler operations. And the foundation for continued growth into markets competitors have ignored.
